


Be My Better Halfway

by East02End



Category: Ballum, EastEnders
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28737516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/East02End/pseuds/East02End
Summary: Just because, I couldn’t let it lie and had to write this :) Sorry in advance for the title.Based on the spoilers of this for 25th Jan "When Lexi falls ill, Ben's given food for thought about his relationship with Callum and Lola offers to help him put a romantic plan into action. Will the lads get their happy ever after?"Anyways, I know there’s been more detailed spoilers but I’d already written this, so :) I may end up doing another one :)
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 3
Kudos: 51





	Be My Better Halfway

“Right, I need to get to work.” Callum exclaimed, standing up from the table. 

“M-kay.” Ben murmured, nicking the rest of Callum’s toast from his plate on the way by.

“Didn’t think you were gonna get up today?!” 

Callum smiled at Ben, still looking half asleep, dragging himself through the room, wrapped in Callum’s dressing gown. 

“Don’t work too hard will ya, gotta save ya energy for later.” He winked. “I need to stay here and charge me batteries after last night? This one here could go all night!”

“Seriously, Ben?” Lola cringed. “I hear you two at night enough thanks, why don’t you sit down and tell me everything, eh?”

“If you insist?” Ben chuckled, throwing himself down on the sofa next to Lola, taking a bite out of the toast. 

“Oi, shut it you.” Callum smiled, smacking him on the arm. 

He perched on the chair arm, next to him, running a hand through Ben’s hair.

“I’m kidding! She’s just jealous cos she has a none existent sex life.” Callum smiled at Ben, grinning to himself, still eating toast. 

“Don’t mean I wanna hear about yours?!”

“Is it safe to leave you two, or will one of you be dead by the time I come home?” Callum chuckled. 

“Nah, you can just stay here all day and keep doing that.”

“What?” Callum frowned, still running his hands through Ben’s hair. 

“That ‘thing’? Dunno what it is, but it’s just you innit? God, I could sit here all day with your hands in my hair.”

Callum grinned at Ben, closing his eyes, relishing in the feel of Callum’s fingers lightly scratching his head. 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t sit on my arse all day, like someone?” 

Callum shook his head at the small whine from Ben, when he took his hand away. 

“You two are so smitten it’s unbelievable.” Lola chuckled.

“What can I say, Callum does it for me?” Ben grinned. 

“Mmm?” Callum hummed. “You mean me getting what you want all the time?”

“No?! Actually, whilst your out you couldn’t grab us some-“

“If this is something for the bedroom department, don’t even say it.” Lola glared. 

“I was only gonna say more milk? Lex cleared the rest out before school this morning.”

Lola squinted at Ben, not convinced. 

“Go and check! There’s none in the fridge!” Ben frowned, concentrating on finishing the toast instead. 

“I’ll go grab some later, don’t kill each other.” Callum grinned. 

“Don’t be too late back.” Ben added, leaning up to meet Callum’s lips, pressing a kiss on his mouth. 

“I’ll try not to be.” Callum nodded, pressing another to the top of his head. 

“You gotta hang onto that one.” Lola smiled. 

“That’s the plan.”

“Yeah well, if you keep sending him to do stuff for you, he’ll shove you out that door himself.”

“He knows I love him.” Ben grinned. 

“He might know but you gotta show him, Ben. Keep it fresh, do something nice for him. You gotta appreciate him cos you don’t wanna go and lose him.”

“I ent gonna?” Ben frowned. 

“I know, I just meant you gotta up your game if you wanna keep a guy like him. He crazy loves you, proved it the other week didn’t he, he’d do absolutely anything for you. Do something for him. Show him how much he means to you.”

“That’s a good idea actually?” 

“Anyway, I gotta get to work, some of us have jobs to get too?”

“Pros of working for yourself, can go in whenever I feel like it.”

Lola shook her head at Ben’s smug smile, returning to his mug of coffee trying to think of something to do for Callum. 

~*~

“Cal, I know your probably snowed under at work, but I just wanted to let you know that I’ve got Lex at home. School rang, she’s not good, been sick twice already and Lo’s not picking up either. Call me when you get this, yeah? Love you.”

Ben sighed, heading back through to the living room, sitting on the edge of the sofa next to Lexi. 

“You still feel sick?”

Lexi nodded slowly, squeezing her eyes shut. “I want Callum too?”

“I know you do, but he’s working princess.”

“You got a headache too?”

“Hurts...” She whispered. 

It broke his heart to see her so sad and hurting, with nothing he could do to help her. 

“Will you try and drink the fizzy stuff? It’ll help your head, I promise.”

Lexi whined, burying her head in the cushion. 

“It’s horrible!” She cried. 

Ben sighed, knowing she’d refuse anyway. 

Ben let out a sigh of relief at seeing Callum hurrying through the back door into the kitchen half an hour later. 

“Just thought it’d be easier if I came home, instead. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Lex is still feeling sick.” Ben sighed. “She hasn’t been sick since she got home though. I tried getting her to drink this for her headache but she won’t. She keeps telling me it’s that horrible fizzy stuff.”

“Blimey that only comes out when your hungover?!”

“Hey?” Ben smiled, watching Callum make another one for her. “She’s hardly ever ill, Cal?”

“She’ll be okay, I’m sure. She’s a kid, she’s bound to be picking up all sorts at school. It’ll just be a bug.”

“And what if it’s not that??”

“Come ‘ere.” Callum whispered, gathering Ben in his arms. 

Ben took his usual place, melting into him, Callum’s arms enveloping him perfectly, like two pieces of a jigsaw sliding together.

“I’m not good at this, Cal. I just don’t like seeing her hurting.” 

“Neither do I. Your a brilliant Dad, Ben, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You’d do anything to protect that girl.”

Ben nodded slowly, smiling to himself at Callum lightly stroking the back of his neck, pressing a kiss on the top of his head. 

“Don’t know what I’d do without you?”

“Your never gonna have to find out.” Callum smiled, pulling away and holding Ben’s face lightly in his hands. “Your an amazing Dad.”

“I’d like to see you try and get her drink this?” Ben grinned. 

“I’ll try.” Callum smiled, lifting Ben’s head gently and pressing a quick kiss to his lips. “She on the sofa?”

“Nah, I carried her upstairs to her room, she’s exhausted.” 

“Wish me luck.” Callum grinned, taking it with him. 

“What you doing in here, missus?” Callum raised an eye at Lexi, lying in the middle of their bed, leaving the glass on the side. 

“Callum!” 

Callum sighed to himself, a meak squeak before she dropped her head back down, hugging one her teddy’s to herself. 

“Your Dad’s told me your not feeling too good?” Callum whispered to her, sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. She looked so small in their bed, curled in a small ball in the middle. 

“I feel sick, will you make it go away?” Lexi looked up at him hopefully, stroking her hair out of her eyes gently. 

“I can’t make it go away right now, but I promise if you get some rest it’ll help you, yeah?”

“I wanted to sleep in your bed cos I was cold and you and Daddy have the biggest cover.”

“Too big duvet?” Callum grinned, sliding into bed next to her. 

“It’s nice and warm.” She smiled weakly, snuggling into him, still clutching her teddy. “Your nice and warm too.”

Ben stopped outside of their room, hearing Callum’s voice speaking so softly to Lexi. 

“Who’s that you got there with you then, eh?”

“Gerry the giraffe.”

“Gerry?” Callum chuckled. “Is he keeping you warm too?”

“Gerry’s ill too? I’m keeping him warm with me.”

“Oh no! You gotta let him drink some this special stuff, haven’t you? If you wanna make him feel better?”

Ben laughed quietly to himself, because Callum could find any way to get her to drink the medicine, knowing exactly how to encourage her. 

“If he’s better, when will I get better?” Lexi whispered. 

“You gotta drink it too. It’s special, you know?”

“Special?? How?” She frowned, squinting at Callum, already suspicious. 

“One, it’ll make you feel so much better and two it’ll make you a real princess!”

“Really?!” She grinned, taking the glass from Callum’s hands staring into it. 

“M-h.” Callum nodded, watching her drink some. 

“But it’s icky!” 

Callum smiled at Lexi, sticking her tongue out, scrunching her face up. 

“It might taste bad, but that’s the secret to making you a princess.”

“How will I know if it’s worked??”

Ben shook his head, grinning to himself, Callum still desperately trying to come up with something new each time. 

“Cos something magical will happen, only to princesses? But you gotta wait until your better.”

Callum sighed, Lexi downing it in one go, pulling a face again. “It better work, or I want my money back?” She glared. 

Callum snorted, shaking her head at her. “Just like your Dad, aren’t ya? Your a proper little Mitchell.”

“How is she?” Ben turned his head, looking at Lola appearing beside him. “My phone died, only just got your message.”

“She alright, Cal’s with her. Can’t quite believe it, he actually managed to get her drink ‘the most disgusting thing in the whole world’ according to Lex?”

He leant against the doorframe, smiling at them both, neither noticing he was there. 

It’s that moment seeing them both together, that it dawned on him, that is exactly what he wants. It wasn’t just a passing in conversation when he told Jay he was going to marry him. It was a fact. 

Callum is at his best like this, it’s always nice to see him with Lexi, but it’s more than that. 

It’s the way he takes care of her, treating her like his own, making sure she’s safe, happy, comfortable. 

They’ve been through so much together already in maybe a short time compared some others, but it’s decided. 

This is what he wants. Forever and tomorrow.

“About that thing you said this morning. I’ve got the perfect idea to show him how much he means to me.” Ben smiled. 

“Yeah? You want help?” 

“I need Lex too, when she’s feeling alright.”

~*~

“Look at you all dolled up?” Callum chuckled, smiling at Lexi wearing a dress, waiting for him at the door as he walked into the kitchen from work. “You out anywhere nice?”

“I’ve got to take you somewhere.” She grinned. 

“Me? Where?”

“Daddy said it’s top secret until you get there.” 

“What you two been up to? There’s always trouble with you two together?”

“I can’t say!” She cried, glaring at him. 

“Okay, okay?” Callum held his hands up in surrender, smiling at Lexi. “You can be very scary sometimes.”

“I’ve got to be, cos you promised me something magical and this is gonna be!” She beamed. 

“Where’s your Mum?” 

“In the living room?”

Callum took Lexi’s hand taking her with him. 

“You know about this?” Callum frowned. 

“My lips are sealed.” She smiled. “Ben’s waiting.”

“Waiting where?! I just wanna know whats going on?”

“You will soon enough, he’s left something on the bed for you, then Lex is gonna chaperone you to your place.”

Callum shook his head, still confused by all the cloak and dagger. 

“Why’s your Daddy buying me a suit, eh?”

“Cos it’s important?” Lexi declared, picking it up and shoving it at Callum. “Chop chop.”

“I’m going!”

“Where to next, then?” Callum asked after he showered and changed. 

“Follow me!”

Callum followed Lexi down the stairs to the front door, letting him open it. 

“What...” Callum whispered, Lexi taking his hand, looking at a pathway, handmade in front of them. A pathway made from small tea lights, leading to somewhere. 

“Good job it isn’t windy, or this wouldn’t have worked.” Lola chuckled from behind them. 

“You still not gonna tell me?”

“Ben will.” 

“Come on!” Lexi cried, feeling impatient. 

Callum smiled to himself, letting Lexi guide him, although it was easy to work out where he was going with the candles lighting his way. 

His heart skipped a beat, taking in the beer garden outside the Vic, decked in fairy lights, and candles, Ben waiting the other side. 

“What’s all this?” He smiled. 

“Thanks, Lex.” Ben smiled, looking at them both together. “Knew you’d look great in that Tux.” Ben grinned. 

“You don’t look too bad yourself.” Callum smiled. 

“I’m sorry for all the confusion, first off. I just wanted it to be special, cos you are special.”

“Get on with it!” Lexi piped up in between them. 

“Alright?” Ben smiled, taking both of Callum’s hands his. 

“Callum," he began with a shaky breath. "We've been together for a while now and you know I love you more than anything."

"Of course, and I love you...?" Callum still wasn’t sure where he was going with it.

"I... when we first started dating, I knew from the beginning that you were the one. You were this beacon of light and hope and all things good and I was so drawn to it, to you. You inspired me to be better and you climbed my walls, no matter how high I built them. You're the most beautiful person I've ever seen, but more than that, you have the most amazing, kind, intuitive, passionate personality and we've stuck together through thick and thin.”

Callum searched Ben’s eyes, looking so nervous. 

“I think I’d been dreaming about it for a while now, but when you told everything you’d done to protect me and our family, it just made it so clear. You're the first person I see in the morning and the last person I kiss at night, and I always want to be right by your side. We've had our rough patches, but through all of it, I loved you. I will always love you, Cal. You believed in me when no one else did and taught me the meaning of true love."

Callum was beginning to get a clue about what was happening when he slowly bent to one knee in front of him. 

Tears brewed in his eyes and he clasped his hands over his mouth, when he saw the earnest and loving look in his eyes.

"Ben...” Callum whispered hoarsely, not quite believing it was happening. 

"Callum Highway, I promise to love you through everything and for every moment of forever. Would you do me the extraordinary honour of marrying me?"

Callum was silent for a moment as he watched Ben’s eyes grow fraught with anticipation. 

Callum knew what he was going to say and how the words tumbled out of his mouth easily didn’t surprised him.

"Yes!” Callum sobbed, letting him slip the ring on her finger. "Course I’ll marry ya, you muppet.”

Ben’s face broke out into a grin and he got off one knee gracefully, wrapping him in a tight hug. 

"I love you so much.” He cried happily.

"Not as much as I do." Callum whispered, admiring the ring in the candlelight. It was a perfect solid silver band.

"Do you like it?" He asked anxiously. "You can upgrade it to gold when you become my husband.” He grinned. 

"It's perfect." Callum affirmed. "You're perfect."

"Now, I wouldn't say that when you're right beside me." He shrugged with a small smile. "I love you, future husband.”

Callum pulled him close and planted a hard kiss on his lips. "Not as much as I love you, future husband."

“You told me I’d be a princess and it’d be magical, Callum, and it came true! I can be a bridesmaid!” Lexi squealed. 

Callum smiled widely at Lexi, jumping around, one arm wrapped around Ben’s waist, kissing the side of his head. 

“Yes you will, darlin’. Yes you will.”


End file.
